The opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season is formally within the books.
Within the grand scheme of issues, there are nonetheless 159 video games left to play (158 for a choose few). Nonetheless, there’s loads of overreaction fodder within the aftermath of baseball’s inaugural weekend, so let’s break it down.
The New York Yankees have MLB’s finest lineup and can slug their manner again to the World Sequence
There is no denying what the Yankees did to the Milwaukee Brewers this previous weekend: 36 complete runs scored, 15 house runs (together with 4 simply from Aaron Choose alone) in opposition to simply 14 Milwaukee runs. An entire bludgeoning of a Nationwide League playoff crew from a season in the past.
General, the Bronx Bombers lived as much as the hype of their first sequence since Juan Soto’s departure to Queens. However can they sustain this torrid hitting tempo? Or will the magic of their new ‘torpedo’ bats fade over time?
The Los Angeles Dodgers will simply defend their 2024 title
Los Angeles turned the primary crew to achieve 5 wins on the early season after two consecutive sweeps of the Chicago Cubs in Japan and the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers ought to completely be thought of the favorites as soon as once more in 2025 given their immense expertise, however repeating is however a troublesome feat: the final crew to take action was the 2000 New York Yankees, who completed off a three-peat.
The St. Louis Cardinals is likely to be the most effective crew within the NL Central
It is three video games into the season, however the Cardinals do in truth sit atop the NL Central division following their three-game dominance of the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium, their best start since 2006. That yr, the Redbirds gained all of it.
One other factor to notice about that 2006 season: The Cardinals clinched the NL Central with simply 83 victories. That is probably not fully out of the query in 2025 given how terrible the remainder of their rivals seemed on opening weekend, however we’ll nonetheless must see extra earlier than getting severe about St. Louis.
Boston Crimson Sox DH Rafael Devers could have his worst skilled season thus far
Devers has endured a brutal starting to his 2025 season, with 12 strikeouts in 16 at-bats, whereas going hitless over his first 4 video games. Maybe the transition to DH, which he initially opposed, is feeding on the All-Star’s bruised ego.
Nonetheless, this has been an uncommon chilly spell for the in any other case prolific hitter, who slugged 28 home runs with an .871 OPS in 2024. However historical past says to belief the 28-year-old third baseman, whose profession .853 OPS suggests a bounce again in some unspecified time in the future or one other.
In different phrases? He is just too gifted to remain this dangerous.
The Atlanta Braves might not have the ability to dig out of their winless gap
Being swept by the San Diego Padres is not something to be ashamed about, however it’s nonetheless stunning how uncompetitive the Atlanta Braves seemed out of the gate in 2025.
Certain, Atlanta is probably not absolutely wholesome but (Starter Spencer Strider and outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. are anticipated again round late April or early Could), however that is nonetheless a stacked roster with excessive expectations. There actually aren’t many excuses for a sluggish begin, however the Braves have greater than earned the good thing about the doubt contemplating their shock playoff run off an injury-riddled 2024 marketing campaign.
Honorable point out: The San Diego Padres are a legit contender
They shut out the vaunted Braves lineup in two consecutive video games en path to a four-game sweep. Speak about an early assertion from a crew whose solely main offseason transfer was signing right-hander Nick Pivetta, who was wonderful over seven scoreless innings in his season debut on Sunday night time.
If the Padres proceed to punch above their weight, the Nationwide League playoff subject might have gotten that a lot wider.
